By Ashley Strickland, CNN

ATLANTA — A 280 million-year-old fossil thought to be a well-preserved specimen of an ancient reptile is largely a forgery, according to new research.

The fossil, initially discovered in the Italian Alps in 1931, has the scientific name Tridentinosaurus antiquus. Scientists thought the dark, deep outline of the lizardlike body encased in rock was skin and soft tissue, and they considered the fossil to be a puzzle piece for understanding early reptile evolution.

The fossil appeared in book and article citations over the decades, but no one ever studied it in detail. Housed in the collections at the University of Padua's Museum of Nature and Humankind in Italy, the relic raised many questions about the exact nature of the creature it was in life when additional, similar specimens couldn't be found.

A new, detailed analysis has revealed that the dark color of the fossil isn't preserved genetic material — it's just black paint covering a couple of bones and carved rock. The researchers behind the study reported their findings Feb. 15 in the journal Paleontology.

"The body outline of this fossil specimen has the same color of genuine fossilized soft tissues of plants and also animals," said lead study author Dr. Valentina Rossi, postdoctoral researcher in paleobiology at University College Cork in Ireland, in an email. "So, without the use of diagnostic techniques, it was impossible to identify the dark-colored material properly."

Unveiling a forgery

Researchers thought the fossil might provide a rare glimpse into reptilian evolution.

"The fossil was believed to be unique because there were no other examples from the same geographical area and geological period of that preservation in a fossil vertebrate at the time," Rossi said.

There were oddities about the find, such as a general lack of visible bones, including the skull bones, even though the body didn't appear completely flat.

Intrigued by the growing uncertainty surrounding the fossil, Rossi and her colleagues began their study in 2021 by examining it with ultraviolet photography. The analysis revealed that the specimen was covered in a thick coating, Rossi said.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50883568/famous-fossil-is-really-just-paint-rocks-and-a-couple-of-bones-researchers-say